Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-07-Speech-3-008"
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"en.20050907.2.3-008"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, first of all I should like to thank the European Parliament for this important opportunity, which I shall use to reiterate, both personally and on behalf of the Commission, as has already been done on other occasions, our sympathy for the pain of all those throughout the world who have suffered and continue to suffer the consequences of terrorist attacks.
It is a kind of citizenship of which we Europeans are the proud and also jealous guardians, because it is based on the right to life, on the right to full respect for human dignity, on equality for all the women and all the men on earth. Such values will and must have political expression. We – the Commission – shall therefore make our contribution to the debate: in a few days’ time, in fact, on 21 September, we shall issue a communication to Parliament and the Council on violent radicalisation and the recruitment of terrorists.
We must then develop international cooperation measures: Europe working together with international players, alongside the United States, alongside the countries of the Arab world, alongside all those who are fighting because they, like us, are victims of terrorism. We must do so, in my opinion, by closing the financial channels and cutting off the sources of funding that sustain terrorism and terrorist organisations.
The second line of action is protection. We are working towards enabling citizens to enjoy a basic, fundamental right, which is the right to live in safety, the right to live our daily lives without fear. By the end of this year we shall be ready to put forward a European programme to improve the protection of critical infrastructure. It will be a complicated project that will require a great deal of research into security technology, which is why we are promoting a thorough dialogue between the public and private sectors, as clearly both are involved in a project that aims at ensuring that the infrastructure supporting people’s daily lives is more secure than it is today.
We must also put in place an effective reaction capability and increasingly promote effective cooperation between the investigating authorities and the intelligence community. Our objective is to try to create a genuine European network aimed at developing the principle of availability, a decisive factor in encouraging the exchange of information, which – where it is available – can sometimes be vital in preventing a terrorist attack.
That is one of the many tasks that, in my view, are very important, on the path towards establishing that mutual trust among the Member States that we are trying to achieve. The European arrest warrant has been approved, and it has turned out to be a successful experiment, as shown by the recent events in July. The next task will be the European evidence warrant, another important means of improving mutual trust among the Member States’ authorities. Precisely on the subject of mutual trust, we are trying out an operational capability for cooperation that does not depend on legislation but on the will of the Member States’ authorities – above all on the political will of the Member States – to work together. Wherever possible, we are aiming at less legislation and more operational cooperation measures.
We never tire of repeating – as I have done several times here in Parliament – that in thinking about and working at improving security we have to maintain a firm, practical balance between investigation requirements – the right to investigate and to repress very serious crimes – on the one hand, and other fundamental rights on the other. I shall clarify straight away why I say ‘other’ rights: I believe that the right to security and, hence, the right to life, the right that we all have to walk around our cities without fear, is a pillar on which our fundamental rights rest. It is one of the elements that must never be absent from a strategy that balances protection, prevention and safeguards.
In short, we have to know how to balance both investigative activities and the defence or protection of the right that we all have to privacy. That is an essential point that we shall, of course, take into account when we set out our proposals.
We shall put forward a proposal for a directive on the retention of telecommunications and Internet data, and in October we shall put forward a proposal that is perhaps even more politically significant: the first structured proposal on data protection in the so-called third pillar, that is to say in the area of cooperation among police and investigation forces. The latter proposal could, for the first time in Europe, set up a truly European institutional framework to safeguard people’s privacy; as you know, such a framework does not yet exist.
We shall debate the content of proposals to retain personal data. Above all, amongst other safeguards, there will be a clear guarantee that data can be used only for a certain period of time after being gathered, only for specific purposes, and only under the control and supervision of free and independent authorities, particularly the investigating judicial authorities. One need only remember that there are currently 25 different bodies of law on this subject in Europe: there are Member States that keep data for up to several years, whereas others do not make the same data available to investigators because they destroy them straight away. Lastly, as Mr Clarke has said, there are even situations where one company retains and holds telephone usage data on its customers and another company does not.
We must all understand, therefore, that only the harmonisation of a European framework can make us stronger even in this extremely sensitive area. We have to be aware that we are fighting against time: security cannot wait for us and we cannot afford to give those faceless people who want to attack us any more time. Understanding is needed, but so is determination.
If I may, I should also like to congratulate Charles Clarke on his commitment, on the measures deployed in a terrible, complex situation, and on the way you English people acted in July, which you describe with a word that I like very much: resilience.
The European institutions, this Europe of ours, which has just endured the referendum crisis, has been dealt a further blow, an attack aimed at the very heart of our cities. We are very well aware of how important our response is now and how much an effective, well-balanced response will help the future of the European project and, above all, our citizens. That is why I agree that we urgently need to make a decision, as Mr Clarke said. However, I also consider it essential that Parliament should, by right, play a leading role in this undertaking at this time, more than on any other occasion, and that it should be fully involved in an institutional process that allows for as much dialogue and sharing of responsibilities as possible, especially through initiatives adopted in accordance with the Treaty.
In conclusion, we must demonstrate our common good will: Europe and its Institutions – this Parliament, the Council and the Commission. It is not just a matter of our common destiny; we must also make Europe take the political lead, which means giving our citizens a response.
Our European Union – the citizens, the Institutions and the Member States that make up the European Union – our Union alone can make all the difference in a battle that no individual state can even think of winning on its own, no matter how strong, proud or well-prepared it may be.
It is only here, right here, and by acting together that we can now and in the future win the fight against the enemies of our democracy, that we can offer concrete proof of our solidarity and profound empathy with all the victims of terrorism, whether in Europe, the United States, the Middle East or the many Arab countries that have also often been targeted by terrorism.
Our task, the commitment that we have undertaken and must assume again today before the citizens of the 25 Member States, is to promote an overall strategy in the fight against terrorism. In my view, this strategy can and must be founded on three main principles: prevention, protection and reaction.
Europe cannot and must not fail in this task because, confronted with a threat that is and will remain serious, confronted with the challenges of terrorism, in the aftermath of New York, Madrid and London and of all the attacks in the heart of friendly, neighbouring Arab countries, Europe now has an opportunity to live up to the expectations, both rational and emotional, that its citizens have held for some time.
We are being called upon to act as respected leaders on the international political stage, leaders in a challenge that promises to be protracted, unfortunately, yet decisive for the future existence of our democracy. In my opinion, what is needed above all is a political response, not a response composed of special or emergency laws; what is needed is a vision for the future of a Europe that is at once a land of security and a land of rights.
This first kind of response, in my view, is called prevention. Such prevention must first of all strike at the political design of an international terrorist network which attacks and rejects the cardinal values held by Europe and by democracies, which attacks citizens’ fundamental rights – one of the pillars of European integration.
We have to lay bare the deep roots of violent radicalisation and the recruitment of terrorists. We want to do so – and we have to do so – by fostering an open dialogue with both religious and secular communities and of course with the countries of the Arab Islamic world, in order to find a common ground of values, a genuine universal citizenship that we are all invited to share."@en1
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